[Phil] Self Evident Truth

Self interest is a requirement for an enduring change to take place. History shows that humanity will adopt radically different ideas, but in my examination thereof, I have yet to find one that does not include some kind of self evident benefit to the Sline population, at least a benefit that is perceived by the Sline, as compared to an actual benefit. I think a few of these might include mass education, opposition to slavery and agriculture. Surely, that seems like a wide range but I choose such for a reason.

Slavery, or the ownership of human beings, had been acceptable for the VAST majority of the human experience. While the most moral among us opposed this, the Sline population tended to either accept or reject the concept based on their personal experience with slavery or the policy selected by their society's elite. The struggle was long and bitter, but it was eventually overcome. That is not to say that slavery no longer exists, but rather, the predominant view point is now such that the majority of the world's population regards a human being as something more than a commodity that can be bought and traded. With that acknowledgement must come an implicit acknowledgement that all human beings have a certain level of dignity and the right to liberty. This might seem obvious, but the double think of confederate plantationists at the phrase, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are equally endowed by their creator with certain rights." Ignoring the religious overtones, this phrase seemed self evident. At a certain level, there is an inherent worth in all human beings. But I argue that this would not have taken root among the Sline population if the average joe could not think to himself, "Would I want to be a slave?" And if the answer is a resounding 'no!' then it becomes much easier to reject the idea and concept all together.

Many utopian or modern philosophies have died at birth, or failed to get out of the gate because of the ability to appeal to the Sline population. Some gain a slow steady increase, but are indeed self evident. Case in point, Democracy. Democracy has slowly increased, rather than the opposite. Governments have to take greater and greater steps to oppress their people, because the average Sline can ask, "Why does my leader know better than I how to govern?" As the internet, the printing press, and other forms of mass communication enlighten the populace and inform us of the very human flaws of our leaders, this basic question is asked. Democracy is not a 'western' idea, it is a fundamentally basic one....that anyone of a certain minimally basic function should have a say in how things are done in the affairs of state, and to say otherwise demands extraordinary proof.

Education is also an easy idea to spread. Knowledge is power, and as that power becomes easier for all to obtain, they can see how it opens doors for them. Enlightenment and self enlightenment become more and more important. It is an idea that is appealing to all, because the average Sline can think to himself, "I don't want to be an ignorant slob." Of course, of late, this once self evident principal has come under attack. Slines think, "I don't want to question my religion..." or "My political philosophy is more important to me than the truth." But even such poor deluded souls still see the importance of literacy to understand their own self told lies as justified by the wise of the world. One can, after all, delude one's self better, when you can twist science or philosophy to say what it never intended. How much more then, of those who actually desire enlightenment and truth, is the value of knowledge self evident. Knowledge is still valued, even if truth no longer is....if it ever really was.

Agriculture might have been the first very radical change our society made. But its value to our lives is evident. Can you imagine our planet supporting 8 billion people if we were all hunter/gatherers?

Thus, any change, any idea or political philosophy, must appeal to even the most basic of our number. Communism, in its infant state, appealed to the masses because they saw the injustices of an elite few who took the bounty of the earth with a disproportionate and unnecessary reward. The arguement to its counter took the ruination of half the world under corruption and stagnation opposed by the flowering in a 20th century technological utopia (comparitively speaking.) Yet even now, in the shadows of the sky rises of our mighty fortresses of lucre, those at the bottom of the ziggaraut grow uneasy. Even the most basic of us, save those enthralled to lies they tell to ensure their racial superiority or self deceptive belief they shall enter the elite, even those most base among us can see that the system as designed benefits the few, rather than the many. But credible alternatives are...lacking...something.

The Democrats seem to believe only half of the things they say, so ready are they to compromise their own beliefs at the drop of a hat. They are changing, adapting to the parade of comforting lies, slowly, but reluctantly, the elder of their number being dragged kicking and screaming into the modern day. The old argument that Joe Sline might ask, "Why should I vote for you?" Is not as evident as it once was. Past victories are taken for granted. They ask, "What have you done for me lately?"

And the counter argument, the ability to spin lies is also not appealing to the masses. Republicans retain grip on a segment of power by reinventing the truth every six minutes, but it is as vapid and hollow as ever. People who do not have a reason to believe a lie, seldom embrace it for long. The Republican party is less popular than it has been in generations, because Joe Sline looks at the Republicans and says, "Why should only the rich benefit from our system?" Arguements about soviet russia and socialism and communism begin to ring hollow in the echo of their reaganesque 'victory' against the corrupt and fallen leviantan. Again the question comes, "What have you done for me lately?"

Libertarianism is on the rise, but is becoming more and more difficult to see a difference with Republicanism. Every philosophy has its lies and falsehoods, but in their desperation for an identity, the Republicans, through the Tea Party have trumped up the Austrian school of economics, ignoring empiracle data entirely. The base arguement of 'we're going broke' and 'don't tax me' sound wonderful until they meet the practical reality of starving children and crashing economies. Moreover, the basic idea of humans as commodities is simply unacceptable. People are ceasing to believe the European idea of "dignity" is a lie. They see this because it is self evident, but the importance of the individual experience is paramount in American culture.

How then, does one find a structure that addresses the individual but also dignity?

Some of these answers I have sought, and some I have found. But I will tell you that it will not be found in comforting lies, and it will never be found in making individual worth less than zero by consigning all philosophies one does not agree with to the 'other' as 'the state'....

A third axiom is needed....commodity vs dignity. A libertarianism that acknowledges dignity and the right of the majority to form a state is needed...but not readily accepted. The time is ripe for a chance of direction, the question is who will lead and who will follow. Interesting times indeed.

[Mock] Republicans and the Village Media Are Idiots

I have promised that politically I'll save my sarcasm for non facebook posts.

No problem.

Whose a special special special special special super SMART party? Yes, its the smaaaaaaaaaaart Republicans.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Smart.

Such smart questions from the village media. Which asks the same questions 14 times. Because they are stupid.

Maybe 15 will make them get it?

[Phil] A Fallow Commonwealth

Puerto Rico recently voted for statehood. Of course, with the do nothing, know nothing congress we currently have (especially in the house of representatives) this means nothing. Government can't do much of anything right now, especially something new, never mind the fact that Puerto Rico might actually add a Democratic state to the union, so God Forbid we actually add another state to the Disunited States of America. Nonsense, all of it.

However, since I do want to avoid a second civil war, and I just don't think most people have the stomach for Excision , I think that the Puerto Rico situation might offer another middle ground. After Obama won, Secession petitions were filed in every state of the union, but the former confederate states got some of the highest amounts. So, the problem with secession is that it allows local areas to have control over the central government, which is the primary reason Lincoln was opposed to it. But the truth of the matter is, that this country has a long and storied tradition of holding territory that is not fully incorporated into the United States of America.

There are reservations (which are in theory soveriegn nations but in practice are abused by both federal and state governments, which is particularly ironic since if they are separate nations states shouldn't be able to touch them. At all. And yet states still have some influence in Indian territory). We have administered areas which are essentially colonies (like Guam or the Virgin Islands) and then we have a unique situation with Puerto Rico which is a common wealth, whose citizens get the protection of the US military and some basic benefits like Social Security and Medicare, without the ability to vote. They do not, however, pay federal income taxes.

Given how anti tax Red States are at the moment, I'm moderately certain that they would leap at the chance to stop paying Federal Income tax in exchange for their representation in Presidential Election and the Congress. Granted, social conservatives have a need to control a woman's body at all costs, but fiscal conversatives and Ron Paul Republicans seem to care about the size and influence of government more than they do about imposing their values on the rest of the nation. They still LIKE imposing their version of crony capitalism on the nation but taxes seem more important. So why not amend the constitution to give states the ability to go Commonwealth like Puerto Rico for several years at a time before they get another referrendum?

It's a win win proposition. The Red States pay less taxes, and the Blue States get to pass government reforms without the Red States interfering in everything that they do. Moreover, it is not as permanent as excision, because some red states are slowly becoming blue states due to demographics changes.

Hell, I think an even better slution is to allow the Red States to set just how much federal service their going to get. They want anything but basic defense from the military? They have to pay taxes. They will, of course, have to generate enough income to pay for their share of the national debt. That doesn't go away, especially given how our interest has increased due to their playing games with our credit rating, but they could still save a lot of money this way. Let them do what they've always dreamed...pay full price for medicare and medicaide with state generated revenue. Bear in mind that most of these states are a net loss anyway, and a simple condition that the states must allow federal taxation to be provided at par for ANY federal services (ie the states can raise the money any way they like, but they must be revenue neutral for any federal services provided) and I think they'd leap at the chance. Plus it would be a very education experience for the people in these states. There a few net revenue positive red states, but not many. It also fulfills the concern of strategic military necessity (ie, Fly Over country pretty much unites the more populated blue states and is necessary as a logistics pathway for defense of the country).

I know this sounds harsh, but

a) It would work. I sincerely believe that most red states would happily trade their vote in the congress and for the president rather than pay federal taxes.

b) It makes them prove that their theory of small governments will actually work.

c) It still allows freedom of movement for citizens, such that people stuck in a Red State can still leave for government services.

d) It helps make Red States more revenue neutral instead of being financial drains because corporations will set up shop their to take advantage of people that like to let themselves be exploited, thus boosting their income, thus improving their tax base, thus making them less of a drain on the rest of the country once (if ever) they decide to become a voting state again.

e) It does reinforce the idea that states have SOME level of sovereignty.

f) It actually encourages neofederalism because red states would LOVE to allow blue cities trapped in their borders to still state in the US in exchange for being able to stop paying income taxes. This could permanently free many imprisoned cities from Red influence like New York, Atlanta and Chicago.

g) It is a better alternative than civil war, which is what I see as a likely occurance if these desperate reality challenged people continue to lose influence and retain any power with increasing delusion and increasingly desperate measures like voter suppression and gerrymandered districts.

[Rant] Clever Play Vs Dick Moves and Markets

I like to play board games, and not the regular "Monopoly" version either, but hard core multi piece multi rule, on rare occasion multi day board games. Indeed, before my friend went feral, I used to go play board games every other monday night with a crowd of very intelligent, very talented individuals. Bear in mind that while I was raised on card games and board games as a familial 'rite of passage' I was often considered a 'dabbler' by some in this crowd because they took it rather seriously.

Thus, you can be assured that this is a crowd that takes things like rules seriously. Now in my observation of the culture of the games as played, there was a serious amount of respect paid when someone successfully navigated the rules in creative and innovative ways. Specifically, finding combinations of things whilst keep track of a seeming infinite number of moving variables made game play better for everyone because it made things seem more challenging but it also forced you to do better. This seemed (to me) particularly true with games that used heavy amounts of strategy with just a tiny bit of randomization.

Conversely, certain styles of moves were basically regarded as 'broken' beyond measure. If a rule was so good that it made the game basically unfun for anyone who didn't make it and was obviously either not playtested or just, well, stupid, it was generally tossed in the rubbish bin where it belonged. It is difficult to say exactly what the litmus test for this was; after all I'd seen some games where the qualification might be ignored because it was well enjoyed, whereas another seemingly innocuous rule was widely reviled and hated by all, but I think by and large it required a combination of loathing from all the participants as well the basic perception that it was not only blatantly unfair but also made the game 'unfun.'

Markets are powerful tools. We should reward people who play the game well because it helps make the entire system more vibrant. Having said that, at some point, certain features of a market are quite arguably called 'dick moves' that serve no one but people abusing the system. And lets be honest here, that's what it is...abusing the system. Markets for profit might not be 'fun' but a society is not, contrary to the claims of libertarians, only about the individual. After all, to quote the movie "Cloud Atlas"..."An ocean is composed of a sea of drops." There is no 'collective' that does not also consist of individuals, and a 'dick move' in a market is an unconcionable slander on those who participate in it.

The real question is, how is such a move enforced?

Well therein are certain problems. In a highly stratified society, the golden rule applies. Those with the gold, make the rules. This is the nature of humanity and virutally all civilizations in the history of man; the question is HOW MUCH power you allow the upper levels of society to have....but if the upper levels of society get to make the rules, of course they are going to make rules only for them.

Imagine if you will, at my friend's house, if all the games we played were tilted to his advantage (far from the case in actual reality since he was an excellent host who routinely stepped out of the way for someone else who wanted to play) and if someone did manage to find a clever combination to benefit themselves, that he tilted the field to make things better for himself...People would get fed up rather quickly and stop coming.

Now, in a system based on our own rather flawed constitution, with winner take all elections and the presumption on the power of the states, with tiny legislatures that are easily bought by ALEC and billionares, why then should we assume that markets function properly when they only benefit a few? Some argue that "Rule of Law" means we just have to obey this...others argue about how we need to protect the minority, whilst in the same breath arguing about the flaws of Affirmitive Action.

Are you in favor of allowing unjust protections for a minority or not? Or is it that you only want economic benefits that only serve you or your tribe? The great irony of our times is, of course, that there are many who argue for the justice of markets that benefit none but a tiny majority, not because of economic self interest, but because of a subconcious affiliation to regional politics and the tribalism that this entails. Think I'm wrong?

Well, I don't, but that's another subject for another time. Let's just say that I'm not the only one that thinks that and tribal motivations are strong.

But common sense does indeed demand that in a normal situation, if you wanted to have fun, you wouldn't keep showing up at the house of someone who rigged the rules only for their benefit, but if, in the interests of 'privitization' 401K's replace pensions, and social security is privatized and sacrificed on the alter of wall street, then you play at one house...or die.

Because really that's what libertarians are advocating about the so called Constitution of the United States, that I didn't vote for, nor did anyone living. The document is so difficult to amend that we will continue with rigged rules and either must leave the country (which is very difficult to do) or simply sit, trapped by their manufactured arguments crafted by billionares without any interest in mind.

They (Republicans and many sympathetic libertarians) say 'wealth redistrubtion' is highway robbery, and yet tactically feel that their only way to win is to have Citizen's United, which allows them to spend unlimited money in markets. They speak of rights in that only the government shall be restricted, but never the individual, as if only a government can imprison someone in poverty.

The idea that rights are only restricted to natural rights is ludicrous. The argument that only the government can imprision or take your life is also false since if medical necesity or wage stagnation forces you into a job you do not want, you are just as imprisoned by the so called 'free' market as if you were in an actual prison.

Snarky, clever libertians would argue, "Well be stuck in prison for a while and see how different you feel?"

To which I counter, be stuck in a minimum wage job working at Wal Mart at age 55 and we'll see.

Societies and cultures are formed by rituals and by rites...in ancient times in some cultures this was a walk about or a time of solitary contemplation. What rite can we enact to ensure the arrogance of willful deniers of reality must recognize their sins against their fellow man?

The irony in all this is that some of these people are indeed incredibly generous to charity. I speak not of the laughable illusion that donations to their favorite religion are charity, but a genuine effort on their part to give back to society, and to such individuals I laud and approve their efforts but they do seem to be in the genuine minority in the cause of their fellow liberatarians. We as a society must choose whether we want to reward someone who rigs the game to their favor (the exact opposite of a free market) or the individuals who actually contribute to society.

[Rant] Repost of a Video by FIRE

I don't hold Rush Limbaugh in the same category as anyone else mentioned in the list 3/4's of the way through this. Rush is a professional liar and a man who makes his living yelling fire in theater and then selling exit tickets as people try to get out. I also am questioning the "value added" of unlimited free speech in society. After all, I'm sorry, but lies don't seem to add value to society and fostering lies doesn't add much either...having said that, I think that the video and FIRE in general seems to make an excellent point, which is that universities exist as a sharing point of ideas, and even lies should be permitted there because the whole point of broadening the educational experience is exposure to the new. More over, Universities are often draconian in their enforcement of speech codes and the like. Tolerance achieved through denial of reality is no better than descration of the value of science by denial of reality. You MUST hear what it is you don't want to hear, or you will end up harming both yourself and those around you.

[Phil] My Review of Common Sense by Thomas Paine

My impression of Mr. Paine has only gone up the more I have read about him. He is truly a man ahead of his time, and is not at all the sort that is often made out by Libertarians in their view of our founding fathers...well that is to say, eastern libertarians as compared to western style libertarians. Thomas Paine was no only liberal, but he was radically liberal for his time and his actions have caused me to change my planned reading of Keyes major economic treatise and instead replace the work (part of my 2012 goals) with "The Age of Reason" with a full intent to read, "The Rights of Man" in early 2013.

The purpose of Common Sense was to energize the common folk of the colonies of the America (the British colonies) to revolt against the monarchy, and to reject the concept of monarchism in general. What suprised me the most about the work were its strong biblical ties to the point that a significant portion of the document deals with religion and the current interpretation of the Bible. Nevertheless, this was brilliant on Paine's part, since his intended audience readily accepted religion and knew the Holy Bible quite well.

The core of his early arguments against the monarchy come from the Old Testament, and the well documented struggle between the early Israelite prophets and the desire of the Israelites to have a king, 'like everyone else.' Indeed, the bible is chalk full of anti monarchist statements, especially in the old testamant. And the arguments are strong ones....which were later countered by the concept of the Divine Right of Kings. As if, somehow, God himself endowed these individuals with superior and moral judgements...

But the biblical and historical record simply do not bear this to be the case, as Paine rather skillfully points out. His attack on the ludicrous idea of a heritary monarch is also quite skillful. Indeed, when you think about it, how often is the quality of greatness that thrusts an individual to prominence, either by work, chance or connection ever repeated to the next generation?

At best such individuals are usually a shadow of the former except in a very few cases where someone is brought up almost by birth to be a replacement in a family business, but even in such cases, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The concept of the monarchy is rather thoroughly and logically trashed by Paine, including the idea of a limited monarchy (especially a hereditary one) since historically such things tend to be unwieldy....if the monarch has any real power.

He spends the second part of the pamplet talking about America's potential, which is enthusiastic and great...though not as ground breaking as the first portion in the eye of time. Having said that it was still vital to awakening the common folk about what America could do and what it could be, and how the attempts at redress were folly at that point, and how a congress was needed to unite the people.

On the whole, the document is rather impressive and well constructed, but directly itself doesn't add much insight into my greater attempts at personal philosophy except shooting dead any fringes or romantic notions about Kings and Queens.

[PHIL] Enforcability, Majority Rule and Oligarchy

My thoughts on this came from a recent graphic that outlined the differences between the Libertarian, Democratic and Republican parties and listed that the Democratic party was an Oligarchy. This rather confused me, so I asked for some clarification. The clarification was interesting but essentially boiled down to a minority making decisions for the majority. My reply, "Short of Genetic Engineering it is now my observation that this will always be the case, the question is which minority and what is their relationship with the majority?" might have been misconstrued since the person who made the original post unfriended me as a result. I meant no offense, but sometimes people looking for it can take offense no matter what you do. I will, however, attempt to explain in greater detail what I meant below.

Enforcability

First though I feel the need to talk about the concept of enforcability. The actual enforcibility of a law has three important points that are to me self evident.

1) The rule of law is, at a practical level, essentially the rule of the largest mob of people or at least the ability of the state to enforce force but, in an attempt to provide the illusion and/or best attempt at fairness, divests the powers and decision making capacities of that mob into abstract concepts, enduring social contracts in the form of laws, and institutional mechanisms to ensure that those abstract concepts are applied as they are written, rather than as they are interpreted by people at any particular time.

2) Since this Rule of Law is an illusion in that, unless the power of the state is essentially godlike, it requires the belief and participation of the concept in the minds of the component members of that society, faith in the institutions that create and execute these laws must be maintained. What then, can reduce faith in this concept more then, than the crafting of a law which cannot be enforced and that the majority do not want to accept? If the vast majority of society abhors murder, then the state can, with relatively little resources and ease (comparatively) track the guilty and enact the penalty of law upon the culprit. Whereas, if the law in question is say...a speed limit, and the vast majority of the population believes that it should be 10 miles per hour higher than the signs posted, but despondent parents and well endowed insurance companies are able to set it at a specific level, then you end up with a mixed result in which the speed limit is largely ignored by the populace unless there happens to be a law enforcement official present, and even then, since it might go to a jury trial, a law enforcement official is more likely to simply look for the most egregious offenders rather than someone who violates the law just a little bit. The more arbitrary the police or other law enforcement agencies, the less likely people are to respect the law and thus endanger to some degree the concept of rule of law itself.

3) So long as there is a government, there will be tax, of one kind or another, in any society that attempts it. That is if there is any kind of Rule of Law. Abstract anarchist societies that believe in self governance are essentially under Rule of the Mob but it just happens to be a well disciplined and very polite mob. Rule by Robot/AI might also not require tax, but Rule of Law definitely requires the efforts of people because abstract concepts only exist when people who believe in them choose to manifest those concepts into the physical universe in a meaningful way by action or, when applicable, lack of action.

Where there is tax, there must be an allocation of resources. Until such time as there is a lack of scarcity of resources, a prioritization must be made on which laws are to be enforced since the observable trend of humanity is that a significant portion of the population will desire more services from their government than the government can provide, and if this is the case, then the laws that can actually be ENFORCED are the ones that come to the fore under wise rule. Popular demand has often demanded unenforcable laws be enforced, but the consequences are dire and the waste of resources are more often than not, rather severe.

Majority Rule

In any conceivable society hitherto now or in the near future that has Rule of Law, the consent of the governed requires the consent of the majority (even if that consent is simply an unwillingness to live rather than remain a part of that society). At such time as the majority of a society wish to change it (by vote, by violence, or by self removal) then it is changed. Thus, Rule of Law or even Rule of Status Quo requires majority consent.

However, it is also my observation that the majority is generally more than inclined to accept the status quo if their perceived basic needs are met. This means that great change requires great energy to perform, whereas small change does not require as much energy but can change the inertia of a society over time. This has some severe consequences, primarily in that those who expend the most energy tend to be able to make the most changes. Or in other words, "the squeaky wheel gets oiled". This is doubly true in more flexible societies (IE Democratic Republics).

The practical means of which is that basically, a minority willing to engage substantial time, effort and will are able to enforce their will upon the majority of the members of society. Merchants, who are able to use power by proxy in the form of capital goods, can hire lobbiests and other champions to whisper in the ear of lawmakers indefinitely. The religious, who literally believe that their God demands the law be interpreted a certain way, can form organizations whose sole purpose is to bend the law in their directions. occasionally purely secular organizations are also able to do this, such as the National Rifle Association, but let us be clear...such influence will always exist even if Religions, Capitalism or Private associations were banned. Even the most tyrannical oligarchy (as defined by the dictionary as compared to libertarians) will still have factions within it. The military will want funding that the intelligence services want to go to them, whereas the propaganda department will want funds or the civic works department etc.

Thus, in any society with a passive and disinterested populace (ie...human beings as they currently exist or have existed for all known and recorded history or are likely to exist for the foreseeable future) defacto cedes its power to the minority most determined to enact its will, through protracted campaigns at influence of law makers, or a willingness to use lethal force (such as a one party state or a merchant class willing to bribe law enforcement to bust up peaceful protests etc).

Minorities will always rule. The question is HOW they rule and what might be their relationship is to the majority.

There are many questions to be asked about a minimalist or maximalist government or even the concept of Natural Rights vs Expected rights, but those are topics for another time and post.